Lipscomb University Director of Business as Mission Instructor Rob Touchstone went behind bars at the Tennessee Prison for Woman to teach Cyntoia Brown as part of a Lipscomb University academic program for inmates. Touchstone stands in his classroom at Lipscomb University on Dec. 20, 2018.(Photo: Shelley Mays/The Tennessean )

Before Gov. Bill Haslam decides whether Brown should be released from prison with a lightened sentence, Touchstone wanted to make sure people were familiar with the Brown he knows.

Inmate Cyntoia Brown (right) of the Tennessee Prison for Women gets a hug from a Lipscomb University faculty member after delivering a commencement address before she received her Associate Degrees from Lipscomb University Friday Dec. 18, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn.(Photo: George Walker IV / The Tennessean)

He described Brown, now 30, at a Thursday news conference and in an interview as a changed woman.

Relentlessly focused. Deeply contemplative. Devoted to doing good.

"She was one of the best students I've had the blessing of teaching," Touchstone said in the interview. "She seems to have used this experience that none of us could even imagine to become a better person."

Cyntoia Brown's case has attracted national attention

Brown was 16 when she shot and killed 43-year-old Nashville real estate agent Johnny Allen. Prosecutors said she killed him in cold blood, but Brown said she was a victim of sex trafficking and feared for her life.

She was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison — state law requires her to serve at least 51 years before she is eligible for parole.

Advocates, politicians and celebrities have decried Brown's sentence, saying it didn't take the web of mitigating circumstances into account. The state parole board sent a slate of mixed recommendations to Haslam earlier this year, but four of the six panelists recommended shortening her sentence to some degree.

Touchstone didn't discuss the contours of Brown's crime. "The courts already ruled on her case," he said.

Instead, he focused on her personal growth, and her potential for improving the world beyond the prison walls.

'She's going to emerge as a leader'

He believes in her work ethic, honed as she finished her GED and got a Lipscomb degree as an inmate. If he could talk to Haslam, he said, he would stress how she had apparently rehabilitated herself.

"Cyntoia should be looked at for who she is right now, for who she's become and what she could contribute to society in the future," he said. "She's ready to serve people."

In his class, Touchstone asked the students to develop plans for business with a mission to improve the world in some way. Brown suggested starting a group rooted in biblical principles that would link nonprofits with the resources they needed to thrive.

"She's going to emerge as a leader," he said. "She's not going to disappear."

Reach Adam Tamburin at atamburin@tennessean.com or 615-726-5986 and on Twitter @tamburintweets.